DK Engineering Latest NewsOur 10 most recent news postsenGoodwood 73rd Member's MeetingTue, 24 Mar 2015 15:10:00 +0000The 73rd Members Meeting, or the Second of its new incarnation, was held over the weekend of the 22nd / 23rd of March. Reduced crowd numbers and the prospect of fresh cars on the various new grids definitely gives this event a unique draw. Highlights this year included the largest ever gathering of Mclaren F1 GTRs, a wonderful sight in the paddock but a truly memorable one with the cars lapping the circuit at pace. Other demonstrations including Group C cars and High Air Box F1 also wowed crowds alongside traditional Goodwood Favourites such as The Salvadori Cup for 50s Spots Cars. Non-Revival races such as the Gerry Marshall Trophy for Touring Cars again proved to be action packed highlights. However, the Graham Hill Trophy was arguably the main event - a sunset race for pre 66 GT cars full of noise, glowing brake discs and world class close racing.
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In last year's Hill Trophy the DK Engineering "E-Type" finished in 3rd Place, taking the Friedrich's Aston DB4GT and the Twyman/Bryant Lotus 11 "breadvan" to the wire over the hour long competition. This year a slight regulation change had rendered the E-Type ineligible but DK's James Cottingham took the wheel of the Ecurie Francorchamps liveried Shelby American Daytona Cobra Coupe to defend the podium finish. A thrilling battle into the night saw an intense battle between Emanuele Pirro and Wolfe in their Cobras and Cottingham in the Coupe running in third place after a hectic start. Closely following Wolfe, James Cottingham managed to squeeze the Daytona Coupe up into 2nd place. In clean air and lapping quickly he then managed to catch the red "Willment" car driven by ex F1 Driver and 5-Time Le Mans Winner Emanuele Pirro, after the driver changes Joe Twyman having taken over from Cottingham had the race lead, sadly hampered by a slight mechanical problem the Red Cobra now piloted by Owner Shaun Lynn was able to regain the lead. At the chequered flag the Twyman / Cottingham Daytona Cobra had claimed a hugely impressive 2nd Place, especially given this was the car's first competitive outing.
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James Cottingham also piloted the ex Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Jaguar in Sunday's Salvadori Cup, the race saw James sustain a race long battle with the Gary Pearson driven ex Ecurie Ecosse long nose D-Type. A final finishing position of 7th having been well earned, and with the chequered flag of that race the Sun set another hugely memorable and successful Goodwood event, it also marks the beginning of a busy season of Events with DK supported race cars entered into many prestigious events across Europe. Of course in Ferrari terms our now famous Showcase Day this coming Saturday is another excuse to remove some more cobwebs that may have gathered on cars over the winter.
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Photos by Tim Scott &nbsp;http://www.fluidimages.co.uk/&nbsp;
James Mann &nbsp;http://www.mannphoto.co.uk/
Tim Brown&nbsp;http://www.motion-captured.com/&nbsp;
&nbsp;http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/64/Goodwood_73rd_Members_Meeting.html
Goodwood Revival 2014Tue, 16 Sep 2014 17:27:00 +0100After a busier-than-ever summer of race meetings, concours events and shows the Goodwood Revival is the ultimate send-off and end to the season, not forgetting the meetings at Spa and in the Algarve. Goodwood never fails to amaze even those who have attended or competed in every event. Such is the variety of the show at Goodwood one could easily spend three days captivated by planes, motor shows, auctions, shops and stands and never watch a single race! Needless-to-say the racing at Goodwood is always sublime.
Since the first revival in 1998 DK Engineering have always had a strong presence at the Revival and of course this year was no different. Not having entered a car into the weekends highlight race, the RAC TT since double victories with the LWT E-Type some years ago it was fantastic to once again have an involvement in this world famous race. This year the RAC TT was extremely hotly contested and victory was eventually taken by David Hart and Guido Van De Garde in Hart's Cobra. James Cottingham and Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan were sharing the "Racing Snakes" AC Cobra in its first ever European race meeting. Driven extremely well in an incredibly busy race the car finished at very commendable 7th OA following a long and intense battle between Andrew Jordan in the Cobra and his touring car rival Matt Neal in a Sunbeam Tiger.
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As well as providing a 250 LM for the Jackie Stewart parade, driven by David Cottingham and a 288 GTO for the Earls Court Motorshow DK had also entered the Ex Ecurie Ecosse Tojerio Jaguar in Friday's Sussex trophy. This difficult car was driven extremely well by James Cottingham and Oliver Bryant who battled the car hard and despite an unwanted long pit stop to solve a throttle linkage issue still managed to bring the car home in midfield position.
Finally the Scuderia Bear GT40, who's (bear) mascot "Muffy" had again made the long journey from the USA to watch his car and Driver (James Cottingham) compete at Goodwood. James qualified the car as the fastest GT40 and had a race-long battle with Steve Soper in the white GT40 of David Cuff in the Whitsun Trophy. Eventually Soper did finish slightly ahead but both cars enjoyed a terrific battle in Saturdays setting sunlight.
Photography From Tim Scott of Fluid Imageshttp://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/63/Goodwood_Revival_2014.html
Salon Prive 2014Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:05:00 +0100For the 9th year, Salon Priv&eacute; opened its doors in London to a wonderful number of guests, originally held at the Hurlingham Club but now held in the grounds of the spectacular Syon Park. Unlike the other concours events this is much more a garden party with programme for three days rather than the usual one day concours as known from the USA or Villa D&acute;Este.
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With the judging taking part at the first day this leaves enough time to enjoy the beautiful settings both for the owners and the visitors on the following days. With a changed timetable at Hampton Court compared to its predecessors in Windsor and St. James it was possible to visit Salon Priv&eacute; on Boodles Ladies day. The jeweller Boodles donates a prize for the best dressed lady at the event and so this is one of the highlight days with plenty of elegant ladies walking between the exhibited cars, drinking champagne or enjoying the traditional lobster during lunch time.
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As usual DK had a strong presence at this wonderful event, with four DK prepared cars on the concours lawn, these included a wonderful Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy (sold to the current owner in 2013), a rare RHD 275 GTS (Sold by DK in 2012) and David Cottingham's own RHD 275 GTB shortnose all in the Ferrari 275 Class, 2nd place in the class was awarded to David's 275 which is phenomenal achievement for a car which was restored 20 years ago and benefits from regular action on the road, including over 3,000 miles this year alone! On the Tuesday all of the DK cars took part in the Tour that started at the RAC club in Epsom, took the cars to Wilton House for lunch and then back to Syon park. It is DK's belief that of a car takes part in the concours, it should take part in the Tour. All four cars behaved faultlessly. The winner's trophy, one of the most coveted in international concours events, was taken by the DK Engineering driven 250 Zagato.
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The unique Zagato bodied Ferrari 250 also took third place in the highly competitive all Zagato class.
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On the "Front" lawn DK had a four car stand on which we showcased a selection of our current stocklist with the Pagani Zonda F, which was chosen by people's vote to have the finest interior, a RHD Porsche 2.7 RS, RHD Plexiglass Daytona and a wonderful Non-Cat and Non-Adjust Ferrari F40.Plexiglass Daytona and a wonderful Non-Cat and Non-Adjust Ferrari F40.http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/62/Salon_Prive_2014.html
Silverstone Classic 2014Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:15:00 +0100The Silverstone Classic hasn't had the continuous history of other vintage racing events; in fact, its present iteration is barely 10 years old. But if this year's version is any indicator, it's become one of the premier events of its type in Europe, if not the world.
Although final figures for the gate haven't yet been released, organisers expect it to exceed the 92,000 reported last year. More than 90 car clubs had displays in the vast infield area, with almost 9,000 cars total on hand. The races themselves comprised 14 different classes with an astonishing total of about 1,100 cars. The huge numbers of entrants are no doubt drawn by the attraction to race in front of huge crowds at a modern F1 circuit.
For DK Engineering this typically busy weekend was no different in 2014, with four cars competitively racing across Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's action included the ex Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Jaguar driven by James Cottingham in the Stirling Moss Trophy, this was the very first outing for the car since the tight time schedule hadn't even allowed time for testing and so the strong pace showed by the car is encouraging for Goodwood. Saturday's scorching heat meant that last minute cooling modifations were required to the GT40 in advance of the WSM race in the early evening. Despite this, temperatures were extremely high in the cockpit of the GT40 and James did extremely well and battled hard with Mike Jordan and Philip Walker in their GT40.On Sunday Morning David Cottingham completed the hour-long Woodcote trophy in his Ferrari 500 TRC and in the process showed some strong pace in the 4 cylinder Ferrari, however the highlight of the weekend was the thrilling Pre-63 GT race on Sunday afternoon. James Cottingham was driving the silver and red DK E-type from fourth place on the grid, the ever-fast pairing of Jackie Oliver and Gary Pearson on pole on the Giallo Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Minshaw, 2nd in his E-Type, The Aston Martin DB4 GT of Friedrichs and Hadfield in third, the DK "E" 4th followed closely by Patrick Blakeney Edwards in the AC Cobra. The first few laps saw Cottingham take the lead as a fantastic start from James and a moment of over exuberance from Jackie Oliver in the SWB allowed the plucky E-Type to hold the lead. Driving what Marcus Pye described as "one of the drives of the weekend" James managed to hold off the repeated and aggressive (sometimes physical) charges of Jackie Oliver until just before the half-way mark. Following a spin on dropped oil after the pit stop the DK E-Type had a slightly lonely race but consistent and precise driving allowed the E-Type to keep 2nd place and take home a fantastic result.http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/61/Silverstone_Classic_2014.html
DK Engineering in the Sunday TimesTue, 15 Jul 2014 19:50:00 +0100DK Engineering Feature in the Sunday Times as the "UK's 42nd Fastest Growing Private Business for International Sales"
DK are ranked 42 in the Sunday Times International Track 200.
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"This is the fifth year of The Sunday Times international Track 200,the league table of Britain's private companies with the fastest growinginternational sales. The International Track 200 ranks companies based on their growth ininternational sales over the last two years of available data.
The average international sales growth for the 200 companieswas 36% a year, to a total of &pound;8.5bn on combined total sales of&pound;19.8bn. They export to all corners of the globe and employ morethan 191,000 staff, having added more than 34,000 jobs over thesame period.
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Companies on the table include folding bike manufacturer BromptonBicycle (No 135), fashion retailer LK Bennett (No 74), bus manufacturerAlexander Dennis (No 31) and Ferrari restorer DK Engineering (No 42),whose celebrity clientele includes Ralph Lauren and Eric Clapton."
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This accolade goes to show that whilst the UK still remains our core market we serve our clients from around the world, it a great honour to have clients from so many corners of the globe including from all over Europe and from every continent on the planet. With the help of our trusted logistics partners we are able to offer the same service to our clients in London, mainland Europe or further afield. For example we conduct a lot of great business with clients in Australia and New Zealand; it is of course hugely flattering that our clients from Australia and New Zealand choose to deal with DK.
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To View the Full Sunday Times Supplement Click Here:http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack/downloads/IntTrack200.pdf
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Alternatively the Complete Fast Track 200 Report is available Here:http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack/downloads/IntTrack200rep.pdfhttp://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/60/DK_Engineering_in_the_Sunday_Times.html
Goodwood 72nd Members MeetingThu, 10 Apr 2014 16:21:00 +0100Between 1948 and 1966, the Members' Meetings were held every few months, with the era's finest drivers descending on Sussex for the benefit of British Automobile Racing Club members. This year, the limited-entry affair drew more than 20,000 spectators to the resurrected event &ndash; which several attendees likened to a 'distilled crowd' Revival meeting, along with the added bonus of more liberal racing categories, including those for post-1966 machines. Of these, the Longtail Le Mans cars and Turbo F1 cars were led on their very high speed demonstrations laps by DK supplied F40s, there could be no better course car for this purpose!
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In total the DK presence numbered seven cars, besides the two aforementioned F40s we were also delighted to provide Goodwood with 1960 TT winning Rob Walker 250 GT SWB, which Stirling Moss once again drove around the circuit, this time however just a demonstration lap. Further to these cars the DK 1963 E-Type, 500 TRC, Maserati 250F ad Ford GT40 were to be raced.
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The E-Type featured in the Saturday night's highlight race, the "Moss Trophy". This race saw Pre-1963 GT cars fight for victory in a one hour two-driver format with James and Jeremy Cottingham sharing the DK E-type. The extremely competitive grid including Jackie Oliver and Gary Pearson in a Competition Ferrari 250 SWB, the very fast Aston Martin DB4 GT of Hadfield and Friedrichs, the Ferrari "Breadvan" piloted by Rob Hall and new owner Martin Halusa and many other very competitive machines. The E-Type qualified in a remarkable 3rd place for the dramatic race which commenced in daylight and finished in almost complete darkness. James started the race and drove the "E" superbly keeping pace with the leaders and leading the race at points until the driver change. Jeremy took the car over from James and managed to reel in the Ferrari "Breadvan" however the pace of the hugely fast Friedrichs/Hadfield DB4GT inevitably overtook the "E" and a resulting third place finish is a spectacular result, the fastest E-Type by a considerable margin.
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James was also racing on Sunday in the ex Scuderia Bear GT40. The GT40 has quickly become a favourite at Goodwood, most likely due to a combination of very committed driving and the presence of the popular bear. The GT40's race was the Surtees Trophy, which was dominated by Mclaren test driver Chris Goodwin who drove away in the McLaren M1B leading a somewhat lonely race from Flag to finish. However the battle for 2nd to 5th was far more exciting with the Lola T70 of Jon Minshaw, the M1B of Chris Drake, James Cottingham in the GT40 and the Huffaker Genie of Pier Tonetti. These four cars seemed to swap places almost every lap, remarkably the seemingly outclassed GT40 kept pace with the Mclarens and Lolas and a fourth place finish is another remarkable result for car and driver.
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Simon Diffey piloted the DK restored "CM5" extremely well in the Brabham Trophy, the car which has never been raced in its lifetime and has also had very little running time following an 18 month total restoration at DK Engineering and so first priority, as always, was to ensure the car behaved well and finished the race around what can be (especially for a new car) a very challenging circuit. We are thrilled that not only did the car run without fault throughout the race but it finished as the 2nd 250F (out of 5 250Fs) and 7th in class. The car's success and indeed the invitation to attend such an event mean that interest in purchasing the car is growing. The car will receive a post-event check over in our workshops and will be reading to compete again later in the year with its new owner. http://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/388/Blue_Chip_and_Competition_Cars/Maserati_250F.html
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We are also delighted that the LIster Knobbly currently offered for sale on the DK site, won a rivetting Salvadori Trophy at the hands of Andrew Smith. &nbsp;http://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/332/Blue_Chip_and_Competition_Cars/Lister_Chevrolet.html
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Photos Provded by Tim Scott and James Mann
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&nbsp;http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/59/Goodwood_72nd_Members_Meeting.html
DK Engineering Showcase Day 2014Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:46:00 +0000A bright and sunny spring day on Saturday 22nd March saw DK Engineering open their doors to clients and friends for their annual Showcase Day, which as the name suggests shows people the range of activities, operations, engineering scope, restoration processes, race preparation and of course a wide variety of sales cars. Helped in small part by the weather, it was certainly a very popular gathering with around 400 people responding to the invitations, and the majority turning up on the day! Cars on display in the sales courtyard included a very rare Ford GT Spider, a Pagani Zonda, a Lamborghini Countach 5000QV, a Jaguar XJ220, and even the electric wizardry of a Tesla Roadster, whilst amongst the classics there was a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing" Coupe and an Aston Martin Short Chassis Volante Vantage. On display in the restoration shop was a 275 GTS and AC Ace both in the "bare metal" stages of their restorations. There were also rolling road demonstrations, including one with a very loud F50 fitted with straight through pipes. A new feature was the fascinating question and answer sessions with former McLaren team manager Alastair Caldwell and Tony Willis of Ferrari Classiche. Our visitors also did their bit in making for an interesting parking area, ranging from a pre-war Bugatti type 13, 1930s Ford Custom Coupe, through numerous Ferrari models including two F50s, to the current offerings from Maranello 458 Spider and FF. As one person commented, the Ferrari Owners' Club would be very pleased with this sort of turn-out at an event!http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/58/DK_Engineering_Showcase_Day_2014.html
Cavallino ClassicTue, 11 Feb 2014 20:08:00 +0000The 250 LM returns from Palm Beach with 5 New Trophies
The Cavallino Classic 2014 was held January 22-26 at the Breakers Resort Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. Celebrating its 23rd anniversary, this five-day gathering for Ferrari owners and enthusiasts saw participants and their 400 exotic and classic cars attending from the United States and Europe.
The event is five full days of track events, concours and shows. The first event of the gathering was the Cavallino Classic Competition, a two-day track meet at Palm Beach International Raceway. A select field of competition Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfa Romeos and Bugattis tackled the 11-turn, 2 mile race track, including a pair of Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas (0748TR and 0756TR); a pair of Ferrari 250 GTOs (3705GT and 4757GT); Ferrari 375 MM; Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France; Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta; Ferrari 275 Competizione; Ferrari 512 M; Maserati 250F; Alfa Romeo P3; Alfa Romeo 8C Monza and Bugatti Type 37A; among others.
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DK Engineering's James and Jeremy Cottingham attended the weekend and brought along the 250 LM #6045. The first show event is the Jet Aviation Center party, a relaxed evening with some of the finest Ferraris shown aside the jets. Only one prize is awarded on this evening the "People's Choice Award" as voted for by the attendance. The prize was awarded to DK Engineering's James and Jeremy Cottingham who were present in Palm Beach with the 250 LM #6045.
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Yet, as always, the high point of the Cavallino Classic is the Concorso d'Eleganza on the front lawn of the Breakers Resort Hotel, on Saturday, January 25, 2014. A field of 150 Ferrari automobiles were judged for originality and elegance, vying for Class Awards and the important Major Cups, along with the Cavallino Cup for Best in Show. This year's event featured the 50th anniversary of the 275 model, with nearly two dozen examples displayed including the class-winning Ferrari 275 GTB Competizione of Preston Henn. The level of the judging at the Breakers is always extremely high and it is a great privilege that the 250 LM was awarded Platinum in the Competition class. The car was also voted by the Judges as the winner of the "La Coppa per Dodici Cilindri" for the finest 12 cylinder Ferrari and the "Ferrari Classiche Cup" awarded by Ferrari for the finest certified car.
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The finale for the 2014 Cavallino Classic is 'Classic Sports Sunday' at Mar-a-Lago, this year's Classic Sports Sunday featured Bentley, as a field of 120 automobiles were displayed on the grounds, including American, Italian, French, British and German classics. Best of Show was awarded to the Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster and the People's Choice award again to James and Jeremy Cottingham with the 250 LM.http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/57/Cavallino_Classic.html
Goodwood RevivalWed, 18 Sep 2013 15:19:00 +0100Every year, without fail, the Revival proves to be the highlight if the historic motor racing year, 2013 will be no different. The three day event features racing on all three since the Freddie March Memorial race was moved into Fridays twilight session. The remaining 15 races were spread over Saturday and Sunday. With qualifying sessions carried out on Friday (with the exception of the TT which is traditionally held on both Friday and Saturday). Unfortunately the rain poured down on Friday and intermittently over Saturday and Sunday, however the inclement weather did nothing to dampen spirits and the large crowds present on all three days were treated to some spectacular on-track action. Particular highlights must include the race and qualifying of the GT40 race, and the TT which started in dry conditions and finished in torrential rain, and thus allowed Simon Hadfield and Oliver Bryant in particular to put in excellent drives taking 1st and 3rd places.
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For DK this year's event proved to be one of the quietest as we were only present with the ex Scuderia Bear GT40 which was driven in Saturday's Whitsun trophy by James Cottingham and Andrew Smith. The GT40 was joined with the same mascot that cheered the car on at the 1966 Le Mans, the bear "Muffy". The car ran extremely well amongst a grid of nearly 30 cars, and qualified in the wet in 9th place. In the race, much to Muffy's delight, James and Andrew were running as high at 2nd place, fighting with Adrian Newey, Steve Soper and Emanuelle Pirro for the top five places. Unfortunately a fuel problem caused a retirement on the last lap - the car was still classified in 12th place.
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Studio Photography Executed by Tim Scott of Fluid Imageshttp://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/56/Goodwood_Revival.html
Success for DK's "E" at Silverstone.Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:17:00 +0100With over 1,100 cars present over two pit and paddock complexes, there is no doubt that the Silverstone Classic is the largest event of its kind in Europe. Unsurprisingly, all of the 24 race grids were near full and a number of these were at the circuit's capacity for number. The eclectic collection of racing cars spanned 90 years with Pre-War Grand Prix machinery sharing the weekend with Group C and 90's Touring Cars. The event has three public days, qualifying on Friday with two full days of close racing on Saturday and Sunday in addition to the competitors test day on Thursday. The weather was generally kind to the event and dry weather was enjoyed by most grids except sadly for the Piper Heidseick trophy which was run in standing water and torrential rain. This in turn led to the following and final race on Saturday, Group C, being cancelled. With so many cars and drivers it was perhaps a little disappointing not to see any pre-war sports cars, but then, you can't have it all!
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DK, as always, were present at the event in force and this year the burgundy series 1 E-Type, (fresh from a hard earned 3rd place finish at Dijon Prenois), the 500 TRC and the GT40 of Andrew Smith (which James would also drive) were present . Andrew would also share the drive in the E-Type. As at Dijon the E-Type, despite its standard trim and appearance set an extremely good pace from the start, despite a few minor problems in qualifying which included acclimatising Andrew Smith to the car and a runaway gear knob the car was placed in P4 in a grid of 50 competitors; the top three grid positions were taken by Hadfield/Friedrichs in the Project Aston, the ever-quick pairing of Jackie Oliver and Gary Pearson in Rohan Fernando's Ferrari 250 GT SWB and in third position the AC Cobra of Blakeney-Edwards/Hunt. James started the race and by quarter distance had climbed to second place having quickly overcame the Aston and Cobra and with the Ferrari leading a close battle ensued between the Cobra and E-Type, but the pace of the E-type seemed to force the Cobra into premature retirement. Following the Pearson and Oliver driver change, the E-Type was running in first place awaiting Andrew to take the wheel, this change was made near to the end of the pit window and the E-Type re-joined the race in second position. At this point Hadfield had taken over the Project Aston and was now lapping over five seconds faster than the rest of the field in third place. Whilst Andrew drove the car faultlessly , the prototype Aston passed the E-Type on the penultimate lap and finished ahead in second place, victory for Pearson and Oliver in the 250 SWB and a hard fought podium for the DK "E". Clearly the fastest E-Type in the race.http://www.dkeng.co.uk/news/Latest_News_and_Events/55/Success_for_DKs_E_at_Silverstone.html